It all came as a shock to the SLC, which was hoping to whop in a sufficiently priced bid for the Television broadcast rights. The India-Sri Lanka series that is scheduled to take place in the months of August & September, has attracted only a bid $1.4 million. The problem faced is that only Ten Sports has placed a bid at the close of the tender. However, SLC has been sighted for re-negotiating with Ten Sports and some other networks have also decided to renew their interest in the series.
At present, the broadcast rights of international cricket in Sri Lanka are held by Ten Sports. The SLC is extremely dismayed by the meager response for the series. SLC Chairman Sidath Wettimuny has quoted, “I can’t tell you how disappointed I was with the quotation we got from Ten Sports. We were all a bit surprised. So I’ve gone back to them and asked them to look at the figure again, and I’m expecting them to get back to me over the next two days. We have a working relationship with Ten Sports, but I told them that if nothing changes, we’ll have to look elsewhere.”
At the opening of the bidding, SLC had high hopes from Sony and Star, but none of them entered a bid, even after showing some initial interest. There are rumors that Star is at present making preparations to have a heavy home season. Moreover, after the IPL & World Cup, the broadcasting budgets in India have had a setback. Also, the series is scheduled to take place in the monsoon season of Sri Lanka, thus making the broadcasters skeptical regarding it.
Chairman Sidath also mentioned that the expected worth of one Test Match between India & Sri Lanka is $2 million. So, the bid of $1.4 million for the series with three Tests is quite insufficient. The series has not been finalised yet, even though the beginning and end of the series have been scheduled to be August 18 and September 7.
